Easy rider
As part of the first wave of smart processors, level riding plugins are hardly cutting-edge. However, if you’ve ever spent hours writing detailed vocal rides into a DAW, getting a plugin to do even part of that donkey work has to be worth considering.
What, though, does an automatic level riding plugin do that can’t be done with regular automation? In fact, they work with your automation, so although you could run them live, it’s far smarter to set them to write the moves they make back as automation data. But how exactly does the plugin work out how to make those moves?
Well, inevitably it’s all down to the sidechain – you’ll need to route in a sub mix on an auxiliary channel, mirroring the main mix balance, to guide your riding plugin’s movements. Of course, this sidechain mix shouldn’t include the signal you’re looking to ride, as that would set it working against itself. What’s more, there’s nothing forcing you to use the whole mix as a sidechain – you could simply reference to a few specific sounds within it.
The level riding plugins we’ll explore here are Waves Vocal Rider and Bass Rider, and HoRNet Plugins AutoGain Pro Mk2. All three include ways to limit the extent of the level rides, gating of the sidechain signal to prevent unnecessary moves, and writing of automation. That said, AutoGain Pro is by far the most flexible, as it includes two separate detector circuits, M/S and stereo operation, peak and RMS processing, independent attack and release for all detectors and processors, and a graphical display. There’s even a nifty reverse gain option.
Whether you need all of that for the simple rides that you’ll probably use it for most often is questionable, but for more creative work, they’re certainly worth having.